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2009 |
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Roger "Ramjet" Johnston
Joel "Stormbringer" West
When it is all said and done we logged about 2140 miles. A very good and safe trip.
Destination: VNV Memorial Wall - Washington DC
Start date: 05.19.09 - 05.25.09
Goal of trip:
Support my veteran friends past, present, future.
Raise awareness to the fact that there are still well over 80,000 unaccounted for U.S. Military Veterans.
| World War One | 4,452 |
| World War Two | 74,384 |
| Korea | 8,056 |
| Cold War | 123 |
| Vietnam | 1,942 |
| Persian Gulf | 3 |
| Iraq | 13 |
Statistics from www.allpowmia.com
Ride for the Glory of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Ride for recognition of the American Legion and AL Riders.
Visit with and show support for my cousins and nephew:
Major Jeannine Hamby - Pentagon
Lieutenant Colonel Joel Hamby - Iraq
Petty Officer Paul West
Remove from my “Bucket List”.
Debb asked me to rate out trip so here goes:
These are the number one's.
| Overpass reception | Without a doubt, Greenmount Road in O'Fallon. No match, the entire trip. |
| Coolest events | The Huey UH1B escorting us to Hurricane, West Virginia. |
| The reception at Rainelle, West Virginia and the school kids. | |
| Changing of the guard at Arlington. | |
| Seeing and talking to several WW2 Veterans on an Honor Flight to visit the WW2 Memorial. | |
| Talking with the Reverend Billy Graham's daughter and his twin grand daughters at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. | |
| Bonehead stunt of the trip | I started to get off the bike without the kickstand down. Roger and our Tailgunner [Couch] had to help me stand it back up. DUH. This wins for the entire trip. |
| Rudest drivers | Virginia. No respect what-so-ever for the group. |
| Friends | Cheryl [Zippy] and Denny [Hoghead] from Kansas. Great people. |
| Our Tailgunner [Couch.] My friend CogWheel. | |
| Best evening | Meeting a biker from White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. He took us to several of his hangouts and then to The Bull Frog Inn for dinner. Ended up at a biker, bar, bowling alley. Just doesn't get any better than that. |
| Best evening and Dinner | Spending Saturday evening with my cousin Major Jeannine Hamby and the Sweet Water Inn. Fantastic New England Crab Cakes and a Filet Mignon. |
| Best Afternoon | Monday, 2:30 pm, getting home safely, seeing Debb, Amanda, and Steve. |
| Worst Observed Incident | A guy was going to fast on WV 60 East, hit a hairpin turn, the guy in front of him, applied the brakes, when he did the guy panicked, hit his brakes, laid the bike down and hit a rock wall. He was shook up but OK. The bike didn't fair so well. |
| Most Impressive | The fuel team fueling 1000 bikes, in less than a half an hour. I'm talking efficiency. Of course, where the gas wasn't free, and you didn't have change, a gallon may have cost you $10.00. |
| The receptions in the towns and fuel stops along the way. All but one of our noon fuel stops were free, at each stop, we were offered snacks, fruit, and drinks. At a couple of the stops, noon lunch was also free. It is very cool. | |
| West Virginia. I had no idea the State was so beautiful. | |
| The sheer magnitude of motorcycles that can be crammed into Washington, DC. at one time. |